Parents

School Messenger

Northern Lights Public Schools is pleased to introduce School Messenger - a communication tool that will be available to all schools and teachers throughout the division to enhance communication between our schools, parents and students.

At noon on Thursday, September 14th, we will be launching our SMS Text Opt-In Campaign. This invites all parents, students and staff who have a phone number recorded in our system to opt in to receive text messages.

Everyone with a number on file will receive a message from a short code (724-665) - it will not appear as your school's phone number. The message will ask you to text "Y" if you wish to receive text messages from your child's school.

It will look like this:

If you wish to receive text messages, including attendance notifications (letting you know if your child isn't in school), please respond to the message. If you do not wish to rececive messages , do not respond to the message.

In addition to text messaging, School Messenger allows schools, and teachers, to send messages to parents and/or students using the contact information they provided to the school when they registered. This includes automated attendance notifications when students aren't at school and their absence hasn't already been reported by a paretns or guardian. It can also include general messages from your child's teacher, school or division such as newsletters and information on upcoming events.

School Messenger allows the division, school or individual teachers to send messages in a variety of ways such as voice messages to phones, text messages, and emails. If you decide to opt out of text messaging, you may receive messages through one of the other options.

There's an app too!

You can also see all of the messages sent to you in the School Messenger app, which can be downloaded on Apple or Android phones (sorry, no Blackberry version). If you select notifications in the settings part of the app, you will be notified whenever you have a new message.

In addition to showing you all of your messages for all of your children, the app can be used for schools or teachers to communicate with parents/guardians and/or students through groups in the app.

The app will also allow you to set your contact preferences for different kinds of messages. Please note, Northern Lights requires you to have at least one contact method (email, phone, text) activated to receive emergency messages.

No smartphone?

If you aren't able to access the app with a smartphone or tablet, you can see all of the messages you have been sent and participate in groups on your desktop computer.

For directions on how to download and set up the app, or to access School Messenger on your computer go to our SCHOOL MESSENGER APP page.

Where we are right now

Our schools have received training in how to use School Messenger and parents should expect to start receiving attendance notifications and other messages soon, if they have not received them already. Our next step will be to offer training to teachers who want to take advantage of School Messenger to communicate with parents. Our teachers may still opt to use other methods of communication such as agendas, notes home in backpacks, phone calls and emails to parents, or even the Remind app. Please ensure you are aware of the preferred method of communication used by your child's teacher and what the classroom communication expectations are.

How you can help

To make sure you receive messages sent out through School Messenger, please do the following:

Ensure your contact information is up-to-date at your child's school. You will need to have an email address on file to receive email messages and a cell phone number on file for text messages.

Opt-in to text messages. You will not receive text messages unless you opt in, even if your cell phone number is on file with your child's school. Once you have given the school a cell phone number, you will receive a text from a five-digit short code asking if you want to receive text messages from your child's school. To opt-in, text "Y" back to that short code. If you do not respond to the message, you will not receive text messages through School Messenger.

Create an account on at go.schoolmessenger.com and download the app or access your messages on your computer. Make sure you use the same email address as the one that you provided to your child's school. You may need to check that email address for a verification email before your account is activated and you can use the app.